Media Resources

Our Story

The first meeting of the Barrie Historical Archive (BHA) was on January 13, 2016, but the idea came a year earlier. From the Facebook Group, ‘If you grew up in Barrie you remember,’ it was clear there was a keen interest in the history of Barrie, and in sharing stories and personal artifacts. We kept thinking, “wouldn’t it be great if there was a proper platform where all this historical content was consolidated, organized and searchable?” Out of this simple need and the belief in the existence of undiscovered works from our past, the BHA was born.

A successful GoFundMe campaign covered our start-up costs and just a mere 36 weeks after that initial gathering, the BHA launched on September 21, 2016. Pulling out all stops, the BHA opened its virtual doors with an unprecedented historical event at City Hall called “Mayors’ Seat” that reunited Barrie’s former city Mayors.

Our team of 30 plus volunteers is united under our simple vision and mission to build, organize and maintain a free credible, online archive that celebrates and centralizes Barrie’s historical content. We exist to tell OUR history and your story.

The BHA boasts a free online museum of over 7000 images, videos, audio and documents

The BHA is an incorporated, not-for-profit organization in the process of applying for registered charity status

The BHA Board of Directors and volunteers meet the first Wednesday of every month, 7 PM at The Creative Space, 12 Dunlop Street East near Five Points

A complete list of Frequently Asked Questions may be found on our About page

Downloads

If you are a meeting planner or want to write about us and need hi-res images, you can download them here.

Press releases

Testimonies

We’re thrilled that others have found our project as exciting as we do. Here’s some of the nice things they had to say:

“Often, the drive to do all things in a modern way results in the destruction of our history. The Barrie Historical Archive has turned this on its head, using today’s technology and the popularity of social media to keep Barrie’s history alive and make it accessible to all – for free! The dedicated group of people behind the BHA deserves a lot of credit for taking a great idea and making it a reality through hard work.”Barry Ward
Councillor
Ward 4

“As traditional historical associations struggle to find the time and volunteers to keep their love of history going, the Barrie Historical Archive has brought new energy and a new vision for collecting, and keeping local history relevant.”Earl Elliott
President, Simcoe County Historical Association

“The Allandale Neighbourhood Association is delighted that Barrie will have an on-line historical archive. Had it been in existence in the past, it would have enormously aided our efforts to preserve the historic neighbourhoods of Barrie. We look forward to taking advantage of it in the future, and to contributing our own records to it as well.”W.J. Scott, Ph.D., P.Eng., P.Geo. (NL)
Chair and City Liaison Director, Allandale Neighbourhood Association

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